British Academy - Royal Historical Society

ANGLO-SAXON CHARTERS

The Electronic Sawyer

an online version of the revised edition of
Sawyer's Anglo-Saxon Charters [S 1-1602]

prepared under the auspices of the

British Academy / Royal Historical Society
Joint Committee on Anglo-Saxon Charters

by S. E. Kelly

and adapted for the WWW by S. M. Miller

Peter Sawyer's Anglo-Saxon Charters: an Annotated List and Bibliography, Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks 8 (London, 1968), is well-established as the indispensable guide to the whole corpus of Anglo-Saxon charters. Each entry provides a summary of the contents of the document, a list of the manuscripts in which the text is preserved (with reference to any published facsimile), and references to printed editions, translations (if any), and published comment (e.g. on authenticity and historical interest, on the identification of the estate concerned, and on the elucidation of the boundary clause). It is now over thirty years since 'Sawyer' was first published, and the need exists for a fully revised edition, making necessary corrections in the light of further work, incorporating charters which have been discovered in recent years, and bringing the lists of 'comments' up to date.

The preparation of a revised edition of 'Sawyer' was undertaken by the Joint Committee on Anglo-Saxon Charters in 1991. The principal modifications to the basic form of the separate entries are as follows: (a) a more detailed account is provided of the substance of each document, with reference, for example, to the size of the estate, and to any information on the place and precise date of issue; (b) reference is made to the religious house in whose archives the charter was preserved; (c) lists of printed editions have been re-arranged in chronological order of publication. In the case of charters from Glastonbury abbey, explicit reference is made to the inclusion of a surviving text in the (lost) 'Liber Terrarum', or among the single sheets registered at Glastonbury in the 1240s; and in the case of charters from the archives of Worcester cathedral, explicit reference is made to the inclusion of a surviving text among the single sheets seen at Worcester by antiquaries in the seventeenth century. Corrections have been made to the separate entries; the dating of certain documents has been revised or refined in accordance with current understanding; and the terms of reference have been extended to incorporate a few documents which were omitted from the first edition, not least in the belief that the documents in question need to be accorded the dignity of a Sawyer number if they are not to be forgotten. New entries have been created for a number of charters which have emerged from fresh analysis of familiar sources. New entries have been created for the substantial number of charters which have come to light since 1968. References have been added to 'new' sources (whether manuscripts or printed books) for charters already known from other sources. All references listed under 'Comment' in the 1968 edition have been retained; and the lists have been augmented with further references, whether to significant comments overlooked (or omitted) in the first edition or to significant comments published since 1968. The original numbering has been retained, and new entries marked with the suffix 'a', 'b', 'c', etc. A revised and updated bibliography has been compiled, to replace the bibliography provided in the first edition.

A working draft of the entries for S 1-1602 (covering the corpus of surviving texts) was prepared by Dr S. E. Kelly, under the auspices of the Joint Committee on Anglo-Saxon Charters, in 1993-4, and was circulated in typescript to interested parties. This material was further revised and extended by Dr Kelly in 1994-8. The files (closed in September 1998) were adapted for the WWW by Dr Sean Miller, and mounted on this website on 21 January 1999.

'Lost and Incomplete Texts'

The entries for S 1603-1875, designated 'Lost and Incomplete Texts' in Sawyer's catalogue, have been set aside for different treatment. The old numbering has been abandoned, and replaced by a system incorporating an archival prefix, in order to allow greater flexibility and re-arrangement in the process of revision. A provisional version of this part of the catalogue was prepared in 1998, and sections of it will be mounted on the website during the course of 1999. Further information, if required, is available from Dr S. D. Keynes (email).

Further revision, and publication in book form

It is intended that a fully revised edition of Sawyer's catalogue, covering the main body of surviving texts (S 1-1602), as well as 'Lost and Incomplete Texts', will be published in book form. The work of revision continues, and it is hoped that it will be completed in 1999 or 2000. Publication of the revised edition, by the Royal Historical Society, will follow as soon as possible or practicable thereafter. Any comments, corrections or additions to the entries already visible on this website can be directed to the committee by email (sdk13@cus.cam.ac.uk), and will be most gratefully received. The Electronic Sawyer will remain fully accessible on the internet, and will be updated on a regular basis.

Note on recently-discovered charters

Entries for the texts of the several charters which have come to light since 1968 have been incorporated at the appropriate point in the main numerical series, with the suffix 'a', 'b', 'c', etc. The principal examples are listed here.

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